Prince George's Proud:
An Update From County Executive Alsobrooks
Dear Prince Georgians,
March is coming to a close and I am excited to share with you the latest news about Prince George’s County. First, I want to say how honored I was to host the 34th Annual Women’s History Month Luncheon. For the first time ever, the event was hosted by a female County Executive, and I was proud to recognize and honor the visionary women of Prince George’s County who positively impact our community. A recap of that event can be found below.
But what I want to discuss with you right now is the budget that we unveiled for Fiscal Year 2020 last week. I believe our budget is a solid reflection of the priorities we have laid out over the first few months of our administration. A copy of our proposed FY2020 budget can be found online here.
This budget was very challenging because we began the process with a $48 million deficit. With the help of our budget team, as well as input from County agencies and the public, we were able to make the difficult choices and still put forth a budget that funds many of our priorities.
Education is one of our top priorities, and 60% of our proposed budget is going to the Board of Education. With these funds, we will be able to reduce class sizes, continue to offer innovative education programs, and work to expand Pre-K offerings towards the eventual goal of providing universal Pre-K.
We have also been aggressively pursuing school funding in Annapolis and hope to receive additional dollars for school construction and classroom funding through our efforts. We are advocating for a bill that would allow us to build 18 schools over the next seven years through a public-private partnership model. This would not only be more cost effective for the County, but would allow us to construct our schools faster.
While education is our top priority, we have several other areas that we address in our budget. We are proud to increase funding for our Summer Youth Enrichment Program, which will allow us to double the number of job opportunities for our youth from 3,000 to 6,000 this summer. We must ensure that our children have year-round learning opportunities, and this program allows them to obtain the workforce skills that they need to succeed once they graduate.
Another piece of our budget is public safety, which accounts for almost 22% of our budget. Over the last eight years we have seen a record reduction in crime, and we will continue investing in ways that will help us remain on that downward trend. Our budget includes funding for a recruitment class of 100 new police officers, 48 new Fire/EMS personnel, and 60 new correctional officers.
Other portions of our budget will go towards modernizing our County government, investing in new technology and personnel. Some of those items include upgrading our procurement process, investing in new software for the Office of Human Resources Management so we can quickly hire top talent, and funding for positions in DPIE and the Health Department. We are also hiring new operators for our 311 call center so wait times can be further reduced, allowing us to be quicker and more efficient in our responses.
And finally, the piece you have all been waiting for, trash collection. One of the biggest complaints we have heard is that, when people eat their crabs and barbeque on the weekend, they are waiting until late the following week for trash collection. So, we are going to introduce a second day of pickup for food waste on the same day we pick up yard waste.
This solution is the most cost-effective for our County government, only requiring an investment of $200,000 for new containers that is included in our budget. It is also good for our environment, as food scraps do not produce harmful methane gas like other waste, and collecting food waste on the same day as yard trimmings does not create additional carbon dioxide emissions from our trucks being on the road.
The above are just several things we are funding through our proposed budget. I believe these highlights show the strong investments we are making into core areas that will allow our County to continue being a leader in the state and region.
I encourage you all to read over the proposed budget online and attend one of the County Council public hearings over the next two months. I look forward to collaborating with the County Council, as well as the residents of our County, to finalize and enact our FY2020 budget.
Yours in service,
Angela Alsobrooks
County Executive
A Recap of the 34th Annual Women's History Month Luncheon
County Executive Alsobrooks with Keynote Speaker April Ryan (White House Correspondent and author) and Mistress of Ceremonies Lesli Foster (WUSA9 Anchor).
The 34th Annual Women’s History Month Luncheon held Thursday, March 21, was a great success! Even though it was raining, over 1,400 people joined us in celebrating the visionary women who positively impact our community.
Lesli Foster of WUSA9 joined us as the Mistress of Ceremonies for this year’s event, and she did a fantastic job leading us through the afternoon and welcoming all our special guests. We heard some great performances from singer/songwriter Raheem DeVaughn and singer Lillie Grace. And of course, we thoroughly enjoyed the keynote address from our speaker, author and White House Correspondent April Ryan. Her keynote showed that she truly embodies this year’s theme, “Visionary Women.”
After all the performances and speakers, we arrived at the awards portion of the luncheon. We were proud to present scholarships to three young women in Prince George’s County, as well as award the first ever Prince George’s Pride Awards. And, we honored this year’s recipient of the prestigious Gladys Noon Spellman Public Service Award. All our winners are listed below:
Gladys Noon Spellman Public Service Award:
Gloria Brown Burnett, Director of Prince George’s County Department of Social Services
Gladys Noon Spellman Scholarship Awards:
Tamara Bethea, Dr. Henry A. Wise High School
Kirsten Briscoe, Oxon Hill High School
Ezinne Oguguo, Academy of Health Sciences at Prince George’s Community College
Prince George’s Pride Awards:
Dr. Charlene M. Dukes, Prince George’s Community College
Mary Hopkins-Navies, McDonald’s Corporation Franchise
Rocio Treminio-Lopez, Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation
Lupi Quinteros-Grady, Latin American Youth Center
Evelyn Kim Rhim, The Training Source, Inc.
Thank you to the many women who work hard every day to make our community a great place to live and work. Your efforts do not go unnoticed and you are all visionary women. We are already looking forward to next year’s celebration!
April Ryan, White House Correspondent and author, gives the keynote address to a crowded room.
Calling All Business Leaders: Become a SYEP Partner Today
County Executive Alsobrooks speaking with a group of SYEP business partners.
We’ve had a record number of qualified and motivated applicants for our County’s award-winning summer jobs program this year! With such an overwhelming response from our young people, we’re asking the business community to help by investing in the Summer Youth Enrichment Program this summer. Businesses can become a SYEP partner in two ways:
- Sponsor one of our capstone programs. These programs provide job readiness training and career development for many of our younger applicants. Examples of topic areas include: healthcare, clean energy/environment, IT/STEM, culinary, construction, and leadership.
- Hire one of our SYEP applicants at your business for a 6-week, paid summer job experience.
If you are a business that wants to invest in the future leaders and workforce of Prince George’s County, please reach out to Employ Prince George’s at 301-618-8400, or at BusinessServices@co.pg.md.us.
And for our young people ages 14-22, applications close today! You can complete a SYEP application online by going to our website here. We look forward to welcoming everyone who will be working with us and our various employment partners this summer!
Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week
 Recognizing the importance of mental health awareness and the expressive power of art, Maryland’s First Lady and Children’s Mental Health Matters! Honorary Chair Yumi Hogan invites youth to participate in a state-wide art project. Children and youth are asked to create artwork expressing something which makes them feel mentally joyful, healthy and/or optimistic. A selection of this work will be showcased in Annapolis at “Celebrating Through Art: The First Lady’s Mental Health Awareness Youth Art Display” on Monday, May 6, 2019.
Schools and community members are also encouraged to participate in the Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week. All school and community partners are given resources and materials to help promote the awareness week held in May. More information on becoming a school or community champion, as well as information on how youth can enter the state-wide art project, can be found here.
VIDEO: County Executive Alsobrooks Unveils FY2020 Proposed Budget
County Executive Angela Alsobrooks held a press conference to announce the FY2020 proposed budget. Watch the video to hear the County Executive's priorities in the FY2020 budget. For a copy of the proposed budget, visit the following website.
VIDEO: 311 Day of Action
In our efforts to bring a responsive government to you, our Office of Community Relations went out around the county to talk about important services and initiatives that benefit residents. Here are highlights from our "311 Day of Action" held on March 11.
Trailblazers in Corrections
Pictured in the photo are Deputy Director of the Bureau of Administration Corenne Labbe, Captain LaTasha Humphries, Captain Sharon Gilmore, Captain Ebony Rorls and Director Mary Lou McDonough.
For the first time in the Prince George’s County Department of Corrections’ history, the agency has all female shift commanders. Captain LaTasha Humphries, Captain Ebony Rorls and Captain Sharon Gilmore are truly trailblazers who should be celebrated year-round, but especially during Women’s History Month.
Each Captain heads one of the three security shifts, at which time they are overseeing hundreds of officers. Captain Humphries was promoted to her current rank in August of 2016, while Captains Rorls and Gilmore were promoted in February of 2018. Our shift commanders, two of whom are under the age of 40, have shown exemplary leadership skills and demonstrated to our young female officers that they, too, can rise through the ranks, regardless of the career being male-dominated.
“It makes me proud to see that the same women that I worked side by side with, who came through the ranks together with me, now have an opportunity to make changes for the better. My hope is that I can make a significant impact on the organization through my hard work and dedication and inspire those that will come after me,” Captain Humphries said, explaining that she wears the title of highest-ranking sworn woman as a badge of honor.
Department of Corrections Director Mary Lou McDonough said she is proud to lead such a great group of officers and honored to have trailblazers, such as herself, for women in Public Safety careers to look up to.
Prince George’s County Department of Permitting, Inspections and Enforcement Sets April 1-2 Sign Blitz
Everywhere you look, illegal signs litter local roadsides, creating hazards by diverting the attention of drivers.
On April 1-2, 2019, the Department of Permitting, Inspections and Enforcement (DPIE) will conduct its annual Spring Sign Blitz to remove as many of these illegal signs as possible. DPIE personnel will be assisted by staffers from the Department of the Environment (DOE), the Department of Public Works and Transportation (DPW&T) and the State Highway Administration (SHA).
All citizens – County residents, residents of municipalities and members of civic organizations and HOAs – are invited to participate. During the two-day blitz, citizens are invited to safely remove any illegally posted signs and throw them away. The signs can be discarded in your trash or brought to the rear DPIE parking lot past the northwest end of the building for disposal in the dumpster (9400 Peppercorn Pl, Largo, Maryland).
DPIE holds this event just prior to the Spring Community Partners Meeting, scheduled this year from 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM on April 3, 2019, at the DPW&T Maintenance Operations Center (MOC), located at 8400 D’Arcy Road, Forestville, Maryland. Light refreshments will be served at 8:45 AM prior to the start of the meeting.
A similar blitz is held every September before the Fall Community Partners Meeting. As many as 5,000 illegal signs have been removed during previous events.
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The Correctional Family Grows
Correctional Entry Level Training Class 2018-3 pose for a photo before their graduation on March 1, 2019.
Fourteen officers joined the Department of Corrections on March 1, 2019, officially welcomed to the Public Safety family by Prince George’s County leadership. Privates Ayodeji Ajeigbe, Brianna Carr-Rosser, Pereira De Silva, Lateithia Gore, Nathaniel Hammond, Letoshia Harrod, Reuben Oke, Isaiah Robinson, Theresa Robinson, Jorge Sanchez, Nija Saunders, Osman Serry, Francisco Vasquez and Bryant Zanders, Sr. walked across the stage at Riverdale Baptist Church where they were congratulated by Public Safety Department heads. Correctional Entry Level Training Class 2018-3 is putting their 15 weeks of training to use, already making a difference at the Department of Corrections. You can watch a video detailing their journey through the Training Academy here.
Recycle Your Household Hazardous Waste and Electronics in Prince George's!
Looking to dispose of those conventional cleaners? Cooking oil? Propane tanks? Old TV or computer screen? Look no further! The Brown Station Road Sanitary Landfill will accept them free of charge for all County residents! The Landfill is located at 11611 White House Road in Upper Marlboro, 20772.
The HHW and ERAS are open Thursday, Friday and Saturday only, from 8:00 AM to 3:30 PM. Did you know that you can dispose of latex paint in your curbside trash collection as long as it has been dried out/hardened and placed in a plastic bag?
Learn about this and more by checking out a YouTube video from our Prince George’s County Department of Environment here.
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The Commission on Common Ownership Communities Hosts a Meet & Greet
 The purpose of the Commission on Common Ownership Communities is to:
- Ensure the proper establishment and operation of common ownership communities.
- Promote education, public awareness and association membership understanding of the rights and obligations of living in a common ownership community.
- Reduce the number and divisiveness of disputes and encourage the informal resolution of disputes.
- Maintain property values and quality of life within common ownership communities.
- Assist and oversee the development of community and government policies, programs and services that support these communities.
- Try to prevent public financial liability for the repair and replacement of common ownership communities’ facilities within Prince George’s County.
The Meet and Greet will be held at Prince George's Community College, Largo Student Center located at 301 Largo Road, First Floor, Largo, MD 20774 on Saturday, March 30, 2019, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM. We hope to introduce our elected officials and the public to the commission and the services that we are looking to provide to the County. You can RSVP for the event at 301-952-4729.
It is estimated that approximately 500,000 residents within Prince George’s County live in some type of common ownership community. Given our mission, we are looking forward to working with you on how to best serve the residents of Prince George’s County.
An Interfaith Discussion on Building More Just Communities
 The Prince George’s County Human Relations Commission and Prince George’s County Memorial Library System are hosting a forum, Building Justice in Your Communities – a Faith Perspective, at the Laurel Library on March 28th. The event includes panelists representing Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Protestant, Jewish, and Catholic perspectives, as well as a question and answer period with members of the audience. Due to space limitations, please register in advance for this free event here.
Human Trafficking Community Symposium
 The Prince George’s County Human Trafficking Task Force, in partnership with the Prince George’s County Department of Family Services and the Prince George’s County Police Department, is hosting a community symposium on Saturday, April 6th, on the intersection of human trafficking and domestic violence. The event will include survivors’ stories, adult and youth break-out sessions, and more. Please register here.
Prince George’s County and Wells Fargo Have Up To $35,000 for Eligible First-Time Home Buyers
The Prince George's County Department of Housing and Community Development and the Redevelopment Authority of Prince George's County administer a home buyer assistance program called the Prince George's County Purchase Assistance Program, or PGCPAP. PGCPAP provides eligible first-time home buyers with a loan for up to $15,000 to use for down payment and closing costs toward the purchase of their new home. The loan is a 0% interest deferred payment loan that the purchaser must pay back in full when the home is sold, transferred or ceases to be the primary residence of the buyer(s), regardless of the length of residency. The program is managed by the Redevelopment Authority of Prince George's County.
Wells Fargo introduced a new home buyer assistance program in February titled Neighborhood LIFT. This program provides up to $20,000 to Prince George’s County and DC residents for down payment and closing cost assistance on their first home. The funding from Neighborhood LIFT does not have to be paid back. Neighborhood LIFT can also be combined in Prince George’s County with PGCPAP, which could provide an eligible first-time home buyer with as much as $35,000 in down payment and closing costs. More information can be found online here.
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